Last week I was up in Manchester for Oxfam’s annual Country Leaning Review for their UK Poverty work. The day’s objectives were to:
- Meet other Oxfam partners and hear about their work
- Feed in to wider Oxfam’s thinking on developing strong and healthy partnerships
- Review the quality of Oxfam’s partner relationships in England, and what we could do to improve them
The day started with (inevitably) a few presentations, from Single Parent Action Network, ourselves, Church Action on Poverty, and the Community Allowance, followed by some constructive discussions examining the relationships that Oxfam have, in terms of what works and what could be improved.
People fed back about what they liked about working with Oxfam…
- Partners shared common values – a solid starting point for a partnership.
- Oxfam provided flexible funding for its partners, which in some cases was used to leverage other monies into a project.
- Association with the Oxfam brand can open doors and increase the profile of a partner and the project.
- Oxfam can open up and gain access to networks where others cannot.
- Coalition working was a strong factor with Oxfam.
And what could be improved…
- Partners would like to be involved in participating in the development of Oxfam’s strategy in the UK.
- Increased communications between the three work areas: race, gender and livelihoods.
- Links with international partners to be able to share and learn.
- Sharing learning in a structured approach.
In reflection the day highlighted the complex nature of partnerships and the continued effort that needs to go into them: constant nurture, development and communication over the long term – much like any relationship that you care about. Way too much emphasis is placed on the catch all term “partnership”, and I’m not going to get into that debate now. But I do know that I find them hard work and at times challenging, but when I work at them then they can be very rewarding.
For me the basis for any good partnership starts with shared values – if you can get that foundation in place then you’re half way there. In our partnership with Oxfam those values include a ground up approach to tackling poverty, building stronger communities, and taking a holistic approach to working with people and communities.
In the past we’ve worked with Oxfam on our Need NOT Greed campaign, the Community Allowance and most recently some work measuring the informal economy in Salford (the report will be published in the summer).
I hope to build our partnership with Oxfam, which is in its sixth year now, with many more projects to come.
